


Welcome to Pulse

by paperflowers



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: AU, Gen, This Is Halloween, very mild horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 11:58:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3568775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperflowers/pseuds/paperflowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's something unusual going on at the big house known as Pulse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to Pulse

 

 

 

 

_Sweet Dreams are Made of This..._

 

  
  
Long elegant black bunny ears protruded from a peach coloured head dipped with strawberry. Her green eyes were accented by a black coloured button nose, out of which little whispers were drawn in neat lines across her fair cheeks. Her tanned skin looked paler than usual in her dark get up: a shaped bodice with a white fluffy bunny tail and tapered legs covered by sheer black tights. The finale were the sparkly killer heels firm around her ankles giving her a boost of four inches. Black gloves covered her arms until the elbows, tightly fitting and shaped to her figure. The sweet heart neckline of her bodice revealed a pleasantly sized bosom and the promise of more soft flesh beneath.  
  
She raised the glass of wine to her lips, sipping delicately on the nectar. Red smudges remained behind on the crystal precisely where her fingers had cradled the glass, ignoring the long elegant stem for a firmer hold. She felt like she needed a drink after the night she had been through. She was not normally one to indulge in such things, preferring fruit juices or water, but the wine reminded her of the blood soaking to her skin.   
  
The Haunted House didn't turn out quite like anyone had planned.

 

 

 

  
_Who Am I To Disagree?_

 

 

 

  
  
Twelve hours ago the world had been a normal place full of futures, pasts and presents. And she supposed, as she stared blankly at the wall and sipped equally blankly at her poison of choice, that that hadn't changed at all. The world was still going around, still spinning to the same tune, but her life, and the lives of many others, would never be the same again.  
  
Twelve hours ago, she had put on her uniform for the day: a bunny suit, revealing but not overly so - a sexy get up for what would be a sexy day. Halloween was a day for letting loose, having fun and being that which you were not. That's what Fang had said at least. So she had abandoned her usual bohemian style and went with something completely new to do something completely new. She had been so excited to be going to the haunted house. It was said to have the best candy at the end, the best drinks and the best music. it was going to be all around fun and they were, for once, going to enjoy themselves.  
  
Up until last year, both she and Fang and a few others, had lived in an orphanage, banding together to survive the days. Now she was old enough she was no longer in the system and could do as she pleased. Still, she missed the community spirit there - helping each other, the easy comfort of never being alone like she was now. Never having to face the truth, the truth that was just dying to spill from her bones.

 

  
  
_Travel the World and the Seven Seas_

 

 

  
It had seemed ordinary at first, the House between the others but separated by large grounds, a spacious porch and the promise of a glittering extension at the back. The front had a driveway leading into a garage but the car was gone and the garage open, done up but oddly empty. She had frowned, tugging on her friend's sleeve and pointing. Inside was tinsel and glitter and a disco ball which was turning slowly. A getto blaster in the corner was silent. As they approached they could see cakes - cupcakes and sponges and crisps and sweets lying in the open. A sign boasted:  **WELCOME TO PULSE: YOU'LL NEVER WANT TO LEAVE**.  
  
Pulse was an inside joke with these kids. Pulse was a heartbeat, was thriving life and living and all that was alive in the world. Pulse had also been the name of one of their carers at the Orphanage whose neck bulged rhythmically with the beating of her heart. Her hair looked like horns and her face was always stern and always craggy. Pulse had claimed she had the temperament of Ragnarok, though she didn't understand. Ragnarok was a thing not a person. it was death. It was the end.  
  
She failed to notice the floor slick and shiny as she left, a red trail following her everywhere. As she walked, a shadow seemed to move. She stared, stock still for a long time, hardly daring to breathe. A creaking noise echoed, and a ghastly inhalation followed - a sucking kind of sound like lungs full of liquid in desperate need of air. She went to clutch her friend's arm and grasped nothing. Wide eyed she span around. Fang was nowhere to be seen. And the ground seemed to be scuttling, moving towards her with intense purpose. She could hear them move. Heart pounding she backed towards the doorway, tripping up the stairs and through the previously blocked threshold. 

 

 

 

 

_Everybody's Looking for Something_

 

  
Just as she cleared the door it slammed shut, ringing through the house.  **"Faaaannggg,"**  she whimpered wanting her best friend and protector beside her. Where was the tall girl with the dark hair? Where was her friend when she was in need?  **"Fang?"**  she tried again, spinning around but her voice simply faded away from her lips like the sound was whipped away before it could reach the world.  
  
Before her was a maze with three entrances. Standing indecisive she took a tentative step towards one, a click sharp on the ground. But she moved back again before the decision was final, glancing now unsure at the next. Red dots appeared as she hesitated forward, blinking in the distance and glowing like eyes. Whimpering she backed against the door and looked at the last on her right. It seemed inviting, she thought. A clown, stock still was visible just out of sight. The bunny glanced back at the left door where nothing could be seen.  
  
The door rattled hard behind her, the scuttling noise loud filling her ears. The handle shoogled and began to turn...  
  
The bunny girl propelled herself through the right entrance, the one she was facing anyway and was immediately set upon. The Clown, ugly and far too life like loomed over her seemingly falling on top of her. A screech echoed, too loud, too harsh in the silence. She was on the otherside of the corridor now, staring at all too realistic eyes trying to decide if they looked like Hope's or not. The Clown was indeed small, small and dripping and oozing forward inch by inch. its rubber red lips, too soft and fleshy curled up into a smirk. And red dots appeared to her left on the entrance way.  
  
The Door was Open and it remained that way.

 

 

 

_Some of Them Want to Use You_

 

 

  
  
Hurrying forward, knowing she couldn't go back, not with the red eyes glowing bigger and bigger with each passing second, she pressed on. Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked. She almost marched along the maze, a left, a right, a left, straight on. She stopped then, and listened.   
  
Silence.  
  
Taking a deep breath, her hand over her thudding heart, she let out a small giggle. She was being silly. The Haunted House of Pulse was doing its job: it was freaking her out. A hand smoothed down her flat stomach soothingly.  **"Whooo,"**  she breathed, a comfort to herself. She was fine now.  
  
Was that scuttling?  
  
A noise, like hundreds of tiny feet or a few feet belonging to hundreds, came from behind her. There was another sound too, along with the red eyes appearing at the corner: a horrid high pitch stretch like closed lungs trying to suck in air. It was growing louder, and the eyes bigger, and the scuttling closer.   
  
it drove her on, another right, another right, straight on and then a dead end. Back against the heavy partition she stared. Could she go back? She had to, didn't she? There was no way forward here but back meant facing those things. Careful, slow feet edged forward, her mouth firm shut and breath stopped. She daren't breathe. She daren't blink. Inch by inch she crawled forward.  
  
BANG!  
  
The walls rattled, a body fell out of nowhere, dropping hard to the floor. She screamed and her legs were moving before she could register. The heavy male body, blond and wearing a trench coat was far behind her by the time she slowed. Hand over mouth and eyes wet from not blinking, the girl trembled as she continued forward.   
  
Were the red eyes following?  
  
She turned a corner and squealed, stumbling back and falling on her fluffy behind. There on the floor, hands behind her, feet splayed out in killer heels...was herself. A bright light burst from the ceiling as she burst into giggles. And the other girl did too.  
  
**"You really had me going there!"**  she exclaimed happily.  
  
But the relief was short lived. As she moved to lift herself from the floor a smell hit her. Her left leg was curled beneath her, her left arm taking her weight while her right knee was up and her right arm swinging over it for momentum. Hauling herself up she tottered a little in her heels regaining her balance. She was looking down. The floor was suspiciously red, slick and thick. It clung to her legs and soaked her gloves. It came with a metallic smell that seeped into her nostrils and stayed there. It was unmistakable.  
  
**"Fang!"**  she cried, rushing forward, skidding into the wall as she slipped on the bloody floor. She had to find Fang. Her friend was gone, missing from her side. She could be anywhere! She had to make sure she was alright!   
  
The girl dressed as a bunny whipped forward, moving faster and faster as the scuttling started and the red glowing eyes followed. She had rounded yet another corner when something began to drip. Drip. Drip. She looked up to see the lifeless body of a pink haired girl, the name on her tongue but she coudln't quite get it out. The pink haired girl was strangely pale and her skin had a bluish tinge.  
  
"No Stop!"  
  
"How could you! How could You?"  
  
"HELP! HEEELLLP!!"  
  
The words and voices rang in her ears so she covered them hard but they only grew louder. Louder with the scuttling and the groaning boom. The bunny girl covered her ears and shook her head until her brain rattled, blood smearing over her face. When she felt something brush by her, a whisper on the back of her neck she pounded forward, searing through the blood and the guts in the pitch black until she crashed through a mirror.

 

 

 

 

_Some of them Wanted to be Used By You_

 

 

  
  
She lay for several moments, cuts stinging her skin, tights ruined and bunny ears wonky until the need to stand took her. There were several seats in this room, all had occupants slumped and languid. The middle one she recognised as Pulse, the horrid woman from the orphanage who hated children but hated puppies more. She was holding something. She walked forward and pulled it out and read it: it was an invitation to this very Haunted House, written in her own hand.  
  
Well, Vanille thought, maybe Pulse was right. Maybe she is Ragnarok after all.

 

 

 

 

_Some of them want to Abuse You_

 

 

 


End file.
